Wednesday, November 09, 2005

SPORTS>> Beebe cross country wins state

IN SHORT>> The Beebe boys’ cross country team won the class AAAA state championship Saturday at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.

By JASON KINGLeader sports writer

The Beebe Badgers clinched the cross-country state title on Saturday at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.

The Badgers took the championship in impressive form with an overall total score of 50.

Harrison was the favorite coming into the event, but did not have as strong a showing as many expected with an overall score of 83. Although Harrison may have been picked as the team to beat coming into the meet, Beebe hushed all doubters with their top five filled with solid times.

Four of Beebe’s top five runners ended up finishing in the overall top 10.

Greene County Tech was third with an 86, making it a 33 point runaway win for the Badgers.

Beebe coach Jonathan Lindsey says the championship is a realization of everything his team set out to do from the beginning of the year, and something that the team felt was within their grasp.

“This is something we’ve talked about,” Lindsey said. “It has been a goal of ours from day one. We put it all together on Saturday, they all performed very well. I am very proud of the guys and I am happy for the seniors. Four out of our nine guys are seniors, so this is a great way to send them out.”

The top five runners’ scores were used in determining each team’s overall total.

Chris Roberts led the way for Beebe, finishing third overall with a total time of 17:47. Josh Allen was sixth overall with an 18:08.

Cody Weimann was the third fastest for the Badgers with an 18:16, which was good for ninth overall, while brother Colton Weimann rounded out the overall top ten with an 18:23.

The final scorer for Beebe was Jake Burns, finishing twenty-second overall with a time of 19:14.

Although their times did not count toward the overall score, four other Badgers turned in solid times.

Of the 116 total runners at the meet, Jordan Girech finished fortieth overall with a 20:06, while Jacob Hendricks finished forty-ninth overall with a 20:31.

Andy Foreman was eighty-ninth with a 22:07, and John Michael Vance finished ninety-sixth overall with a 23:16.